The magnitude of damage to Eritrean Forces in Tserona and Badme fronts in Eritrea

Tigrai Online, Ethiopian News, June 23, 2016

Thousands of Eritrean conscripted soldiers were killed in a foolish adnventures war. Thousands more caputred by the Ethiopain army as prisoners of war. The above picture shows how young and old the Eritrean troops are.(File photo)

The Ethiopian government hardly gave any information on the extent of damage the gallant Ethiopian Defense Forces inflicted on the Eritrean invading army on June 12, 2016.

The Government communication affairs office Minister, Getachew Reda told reporters the Ethiopian army has achieved its objective in the Tserona engagement and there was casualties on both sides, but there was more on the Eritrean side.

Contrary to Ethiopia the Eritrean government said it had killed 200 and wounded 300 Ethiopian soldiers in Tserona. It also said eighteen of its soldiers lost their lives in the battle. That might be true or it could be out right lie to fool the Eritrean people and cover up the real casualty numbers sustained by the Eritrean troops.

Even though the Ethiopian government is tight lipped about the true figures in last week’s fighting, TOL has been trying to find detail information about the situation and some informal sources told us the Eritrean army suffered huge losses considering the fighting lasted only a day and half.

According to our sources the fighting was not limited to Tserona front only. There was serious fighting in the Burie front in southern Eritrea.

The same source added the heaviest damage to the Eritrean army was done in the Badme area. Here is how it went, the Ethiopian army pretended as if it was withdrawing from some less important places in the area, but they really didn’t, they were hiding in secret barricades and waiting. As expected the Eritreans were fooled by the mock withdrawal and they rushed to take the military places only to be trapped without exit. The poor souls were decimated in a very short time.

We are trying to find the exact numbers of the Eritrean casualties, but the combined number is estimated in the thousands. The rough numbers we have so far is around three thousand Eritrean troops are out of action. There are thousands of prisoners of war including many senior military officers and an army general among them.

Every time Ethiopia takes decisive action against Eritrean provocations, Eritrea would rebuff it as a usual propaganda, but after short time they will admit it. In March 2012 Ethiopia launched a small scale offensive against terrorist training centers inside Eritrea in the Badme and Assab fronts. The Eritrean mafia said it was false, they said the Ethiopian government was day dreaming, but it was true and hundreds of Eritrean soldiers were captured in the fighting. The same exact thing is happening this time. The Ethiopian government is very quite about the fighting and the Eritrean government is putting out press release after another.

The two days fighting has exposed the Eritrean army’s vulnerability. It showed the entire country is at the Ethiopian government’s mercy. Despite the empty bravado spewed out by the leaders of the African North Korea, the military, the economy, and the whole country is hollow.

For the sake of the poor people on both sides of the border, we hope a full-scale war will not start.

If there going to be a full-scale war with Eritrea, it has to be done right and for the last time or it should not be started.

Some say there is no organized political force that can take power and stabilize the country if the brutal PFDJ regime is overthrown. The other equally false claim is, ISIS and other Islamic extremists will take over Eritrea and turn it into another Somalia. All the above reasons are lame excuses and they are based on a luck of knowledge and misunderstanding of the region’s history and the people.

Should the current conflict develop to a full-scale war, the Ethiopian government should do everything in its power to make it decisive and short. The Gim-7, OLF, ONLF, and many other terrorists stationed in Asmara mocking the Eritrean people laughing at their misery should be brought to Ethiopia to face justice for their crimes on both people. To make sure none of the criminals in Asmara escape from justice, Ethiopia should declare no fly zone in the whole Eritrean air space and lock the water ways.